Extract from artist Natalie’s letter to a friend… July 2007

“Powerful goals, manifest, lie beneath the antics that bubble out of the newsletters in our first euphoric three months of being ‘On Tour’. (If you want to be on our newsletter data-base, let us know. natalieart@xtra.co.nz).
There is our wonderful Laughton, such a capable man with huge depth of experience and empathy, taking his child-teacher-parent understandings into schools, at ‘grass-root’ level, reaching the adults of small communities, where they are still in contact with the children.

I find myself in these communities that I would not have otherwise visited in depth, in spite of my long term goal, now manifested, to roam NZ, interfacing with Places and their people, and to respond with a trail of artworks. It is happening, but with a shift in perception ordered by the apparently bland little places I find our Studio-House-Truck parked up in.

Beyond NZ’s scenic glory, which is invariably not outside my Truck window, I have to go looking for the power to inspire a painting. I have finished a large oil commission of a Cambridge client’s 4 grandchildren on a red bed. I paint the odd koha live oil sitting – people are very good at nurturing us in these little communities – I have a ‘scone waist’ to prove it. And every place has its paintable magic, but it is the Maori presence that I find most riveting, inspirationally.

Starting off in Ruatoria, May 07, where we rode in and painted a wild-horse-muster Commission, my eyes were opened to the powerhouse under these ‘pass-on-through’ communities. True, for a month I suffered a lack for decent expresso, but found a passage forged in my perception regarding the glories of Maori motivation, art-forms and the Maori spirit at its best. It is rejuvenating my Pakeha spirit.

Early, early in the mornings I can be found examining over and over the carvings at the local Marae in whichever community Lort has a seminar to take, or bathing in the sunrise view from the nearest highpoint, contemplating the sleeping life of this community. This morning it was Kawerau, the cadmium yellow sky smothered with purple koru from the massive ‘steam’ emissions of the Paper Mill that controls the town.

To really put me in touch, Paora of the ‘Ruatoria Visitor Centre’ (man what a power goal THAT humble abode hints at) took us on a 4×4 scenic miracle tour into the sacred Mt Hikurangi precincts with its five equally stunning mountains in attendance, to show us the breathtaking Whakairo, carved to the rising millenium sun’s ‘first light’, as an enduring legacy to the cultural heritage and artistry of the Ngati Porou. These massive freestanding sculptures bring to life the Maui Myth, explained spiritedly by our empowered guide. A painting commission was the impetus behind Paora’s spontaneous generosity, but his boss, his local Iwi, moves more slowly…… But I will do it anyway. Could a picture really eclipse the thousands of words of a good hui…..

In the meantime I am painting for the annual Auckland (Hilton Hotel) group exhibition ‘Artworks’ – paintings springing from The Tour. I will courier these paintings to Auckland from where-ever our truck is on the due day.
And I have a commission to paint in oils a Te Teko teacher’s children, with Mt Putuaki (Edgecombe!) and Maori motif.
Sitting here, with the sun streaming into our opened truck, after the hoare frost, with Lort jiggling our beloved Truckhome into its next level of customising, there is little more to do but to envision the path of the next major artwork, while three others sit drying in process.

As for those images mentioned, enlargements of them can be found within my website – return to the site home page and seek them out……”

You can contact artist Natalie through our Contact Us page